¹³ But we must forever give thanks to God for you, our brothers loved by the Lord, because God chose from the very first to give you salvation,^[a] cleansing you by the work of the Holy Spirit and by your trusting in the Truth.

⁹ It is he who saved us and chose us for his holy work not because we deserved it but because that was his plan long before the world began—to show his love and kindness to us through Christ.